Well . . . another summer has passed, and another Irish week as well.  All of the attendees had a lot of fun, as usual:  tasty food, friendly company and encouragement, plus a lot of learning -  they were all to be experienced throughout the Irish week in Esopus this year.  There were four Irish classes meeting three times each day and more than 80 students attendees altogether.

        And the children . . . !  We’ve never had that many children with us before – almost 20 boys and girls, attending our pre-school and “complete beginners” classes with our Ethel in charge of them.  As they say:  a good start is half the work!

        Of course, we had the best teachers again throughout the week:  Eibhlín Zurell, Pádraigín Collum, Rath deHoust, Walter Stock, Maitiú Tully, Séamus McCabe, and Donncha Ó Cuinn on the half day (Wednesday afternoon).

        Also, we had a clever young lady with us this year as the ard-rang teacher:  Caitríona Ní Chléiricín,  from County Monaghan.  Caitríona is a student herself, presently attending University College in Dublin, and teaching adults with Bord na Gaeilge.  This was her first visit to America but we hope she will be back with us again.

    Among the other highpoints of the week were:

    -- music classes every day:  Gobnait and Susan, the teachers, were excellent, and there was a self-taught group practicing the tin whistle

    -- a very interesting lecture about mysteries of the Welsh language, by Walter Stock

       -- a wonderful show about his long journey on the Appalachian Trail (almost 2,200 miles altogether, from Georgia to Maine), by Noel Cotter

    -- a murder (sort of!), with clues to be solved by the participants – “Who did it?”

    -- a sports day in the middle of the week, with Stiobhárd and Liam as directors.  We played a game “Truth or Dare”, with four teams competing against each other.  Before the end of the game, there were a few cream pies thrown in a few faces . . . (!)

    -- dance workshops were held every night in the gym with Noel Cotter – good practice before the céilí on Friday night

    --  a collection of different films, in Irish and in English, were available to provide a rest after the long days learning Irish!

    -- and a big céilí at the end of the week, with lots of fun and “party pieces” from every group!

        Throughout the week, our thoughts and our hearts were with our friends who were not present this year – especially with Seán Tierney.  May God keep you all, until we see each other again.